Law students face bleak future with bar exams called off and internships shortened amid pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic is raging on and global confirmed cases have just crossed the 2 million mark, according to Johns Hopkins University tracker. Lockdown and other preventive measures to control the spread of the disease have uprooted millions of lives and left many scathed in its wake. Furthermore, it has disrupted daily life in ways unimaginable. Employees are being laid off left and right, the economy is plummeting into an evident recession, people are scrambling around to stock up leaving grocery aisles empty.
It has wreaked havoc on literally everyone, but most importantly, one part of society that is being impacted the most — the student community.
In a sense, school kids have it a tad bit easier with the lockdown and stay-at-home orders coming only at the end of their academic year, but for others its been a bit of a roller coaster ride. High-schoolers and college grads, especially, are beginning to overthink about their future prospects due to the pandemic canceling their exams and assessments. They've been forced to forego milestones such as prom or graduation.
However, even among this, feature lawyers are finding it hardest to cope with the pandemic that has basically brought their careers to a standstill. These students were only a few months shy of graduating as barristers.
While medical students are graduating in time to battle the epidemic and others have feasibly adapted to the work-from-home situation, the legal industry isn't faring too well. A Business Insider report from April 14 said that law firms have been heavily impacted by the pandemic, with high-stakes trials being halted and M&A, as well as IPO related deal work drying up.
Similarly, law students are facing uncertain futures with the cancelation of the bar exams, and law firms cutting back on the duration of summer programs. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, at the onset of 2020, students were gearing up to enter a legal job market that had been at its peak in more than a decade. But with the COVID-19 outbreak and six-figure student debt on their shoulders, they're currently struggling with major delays in employment and summer programs.
Aspiring lawyers have had to leave their careers on the backburner, with many states postponing the bar exam dates in view of the social-distancing guidelines imposed. Thousands of law school graduates took the new York bar exam in Manhattan's Jacob K Javits Convention Center, in July last year. However this year, the space has been turned in a make-shift hospital that is overflowing with patients.
New York and eight other states, so far, have rescheduled bar exams to be held in the fall, but law grads from the class of 2020 have been petitioning to be allowed to practice their degrees without being admitted to the bar.
According to Bloomberg, a letter signed by the deans of 15 New York-based law schools on April 1 warned that the delay in admissions for the bar team could cause students, especially those knee-deep in debts "profound harm in a time already marked by suffering, intensifying financial hardship and exacerbating the unfairness of their plight.”
Students are not only facing difficulties in terms of the bar exam and loss of employment, but those recruited as interns for summer programs at law firms are also among those struggling. Students are recruited as summer associates after their fourth semester, with a potential full-time job proposal after graduation. And while the bigger law firms haven't altered their decision, smaller firms have shortened the summer programs for the year and cut back on the pay for third-years who have gathered experience as well ($190,000 a year, according to Bloomberg).
On the contrary, some firms are attempting to go digital with their summer programs by going online. Law education has always adhered to a traditional means of classroom learning, so shifting to an online medium may pose a complication. On the other hand, it could also potentially deprive law students of being mentored by experienced persons in the field and limit opportunities for them to widen their networks.
Law graduates, however, are even more devastated as they would have to do without a graduation ceremony, this year. They will be missing out on their only chance to don a gown and cap and breathe a sigh of relief for having successfully made it through the three or four years in law school.